Studios Score as Series Orders Soar

Pilot season was good for the major studios, which emerged from upfront week with orders for 50 new scripted comedy and drama series, up by more than 20% from last year.

Production of new scripted primetime programming for the Big Four and CW is more concentrated than ever before among six suppliers: Warner Bros. TV, 20th Century Fox TV, CBS TV Studios, ABC Studios, Universal TV and Sony Pictures TV.

Execs report a burst of last-minute wrangling this year over network efforts to force their way into co-production pacts as a condition of series greenlights. CBS and NBC in particular were said to be more heavy-handed in negotiations this time around than in the recent past.

But generally speaking, the mood was upbeat after the parade of schedule presentations. The five nets ordered 22 new comedies, up from 16 last year, and 28 drama series, up from 22.

In a sharp turnaround from the doom and gloom of just a few years ago, the primetime production studio biz is buoyed by the headwinds in the content marketplace stirred by the growing appetite among SVOD players for TV series.

The new sources of coin for programming have made studios more willing to invest in high-end series, particularly serialized shows that had fallen out of favor as the traditional syndie biz slumped in recent years.

Between homevid options, streaming deals, branded integration and ancillary licensing opportunities , producers have a patchwork quilt of options for financing shows."Nowadays every show is its own little business," said 20th TV chairman Gary Newman.

"It speaks to what's exciting about our business, because the same strategy doesn't work for everything now. If you have a serialized drama or a sophisticated adult company, there are very different opportunities to monetize those shows in different windows. Our job as a content supplier is to make great compelling programming and find the appropriate partners for it," he said. "We find that if you believe in something, you're better off just letting the show be what it wants to be and then figure out how to take advantage of the (licensing) opportunities."

Twentieth TV nabbed 11 new series this year, a big jump from last year when it fielded five new comedies, none of which secured a renewal.

'The TV content business is not for the faint of heart," Newman said. "But we believe in the power of content more than ever because it is no longer just defined by ratings success."

Twentieth's high-profile newbies include the CBS comedy "The Crazy Ones" (pictured above) starring Robin Williams and Sarah Michelle Gellar, which landed the plum post-"Big Bang Theory" slot on Eye's Thursday night sked; ABC laffer "Back in the Game"; and Fox drama "Sleepy Hollow." Fox and 20th TV also made headlines with the deal to revive "24" as a 12-hour mini next summer.

Warner Bros. TV was once again the biz's top supplier, fielding 13 series including two dramas from J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot banner (NBC's "Believe" and Fox's "Almost Human"); Chuck Lorre's "Mom" and Bruckheimer TV drama "Hostages" for CBS; and the Rebel Wilson's "Super Fun Night" for ABC (pictured below).

A notable trend in this year's ordering patterns was the consideration given to ensuring that schedules stay fresh throughout the season, even in the summer. CBS has earmarked two high-profile frosh dramas for its Monday 10 p.m. slot: "Hostages" and the Josh Holloway-Marg Helgenberger crimer "Intelligence."

"All of the networks seem to be adapting to year-round programming," said Jamie Erlicht, co-prexy of programming at Sony Pictures TV with Zack Van Amburg. "Every network now has a 52-week strategy."

Sony Pictures TV had its best pilot season showing in decade with seven series spread across the Big Four nets. That's a jump from last year when it delivered four skeins, none of which have been renewed (although NBC comedy "Save Me" has yet to air).

The studio went into upfront week with a 22-episode order in hand from NBC for "The Michael J. Fox Show." NBC drama "The Blacklist," starring James Spader, was one of the buzziest titles of upfront week, as was ABC domestic comedy "The Goldbergs" (pictured below).

"If there was a theme this year for is it was that networks were interested in very clear concepts and stars," said Van Amburg, Sony Pictures TV. "Marketing dollars are tighter than ever, and people are consuming TV in different ways. There was a resurgence of interest in stars who have real muscle and are able to attract an audience with our without a big marketing campaign."